


Hurricane

by bellarose_riddle



Category: Bloodlines Series - Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:17:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6834970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellarose_riddle/pseuds/bellarose_riddle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Hathaway is used to her life. She is used to spend the day with her sister-from-another-mother, Lissa, to hate to love Christian, to all the issues she and her mother have, to being the shoulder everyone leans on... and it's probably because she is used to her life that she doesn't expect anything unusual to happen. She should have known that love never asks for permission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No sleep means endless cups of coffee

Lissa's message had been short and clear. I need you here, she had written and Rose hadn't needed anything else to get out of bed. She got dressed as quickly as she could and, knowing that if her mother was home, what she doubted, she would not allow her to get out of the house, she decided to jump out of the window and into a tree, from where she let herself fall to the floor.

She knew she had been caught when she was running to the front part of the house, in order to get to her car, and the guards called her name.

"Too slow" she smiled at Alberta, her mother's most trusted friend and the one in charge of the house's security, from inside of the vehicle and started the car.

She tried calling Christian, but Ozera was out of the country, spending the week with his aunt somewhere in France. Rose cursed and decided to leave him a voice message.

"I don't know where you are but Lissa needs you, so you either move your ass back here or you call her, Christian, because if you don't I'll find you and I'll kill you"

She threw the phone on the passenger's seat.

Even if Christian and she had not always been friends and even if Rose hated his guts most of the time, they had both agreed in one thing: Lissa's health and well-being came first.

She reached Lissa's house a moment later. It was modest, and it had always reminded Rose of the house of the Halliwell sisters in Charmed, definitely not the house that one expected the last of the Dragomirs to have, but Lissa had been unable to live in her family's manor after the accident and had preferred to live there on her own. Many of her family's rich friends had fought against it, but in the end none of them had been able to do anything because Lissa was already 18. That had been two years before.

Rose run up the stairs and into the porch and knocked on the door.

"Lissa! Lissa, it's me, open the door!"

There was no answer and she panicked. She hit the glass of one of the windows and broke it to get into the house, covering her hand with her jacket to prevent the broken glass pieces to harm her.

_Please, Lissa, please._

"I broke your window" she informed her friend, trying to get her attention, and run upstairs "but I'll fix it, I swear"

She found Lissa sitting on her bed, her blonde hair was a mess and when she looked up at Rose her beautiful emerald eyes were full of tears, and yet Rose let out a breath when she saw that her friend didn't seem to be injured.

"You are fast" she whispered with a sob.

Rose climbed into the bed and cursed when Oscar, Lissa's cat, drew his fangs at her right before cuddling next to her friend.

"For you I always am" she smiled at her and took Lissa's hands between hers.

"I would have opened the door, but I felt that if I moved from the bed I would fall to the floor" she was still crying and Rose moved closer to her friend, and embraced her.

"It's fine, Liss" they fell silent for a moment, with Lissa in Rose's arms and Rose caressing her blonde locks "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't really know what happened" she whispered "I woke up suddenly because I heard a noise, and I thought that it was Andre sneaking back home...and then I remembered that Andre is gone, that he is not going to sneak into his room after a party anymore and that my parents are not going to be there to lecture him about it, and I..." she took a moment to steady her breath "I didn't want to wake you up, Rose, I..."

Rose didn't allow her to continue speaking.

"You can wake me up whenever you want, Lissa. I told you once that I'd always be by your side and I meant it" she kissed her forehead "Now you should sleep"

Lissa's grip on her arm tightened and for a moment she panicked.

"Are you leaving?"

"What? No!" Rose moved the blankets to get under them "So you better push that hairball out of here because there's not enough space for the three of us in the bed"

Lissa laughed at that, a laugh that filled Rose's heart with warmth, and then gently pushed Oscar out of the bed, before resting against her friend.

"Thank you" she whispered and minutes later she was asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Rose was suddenly awakened by her phone's ringtone barely an hour later. She cursed and answered quickly, not wanting it to wake Lissa up.

"Yes?" she said harshly.

"Where is Lissa?" Christian answered her, sounding worried "What happened?"

"She is with me" Rose moved carefully from the bed and out of the room, not wanting to disturb her friend "She thought that she had heard Andre coming back home and turned sad"

"Did she hurt herself?" Christian's voice sounded a little broken, as though he was afraid to know the answer to that question.

"No, but I thought... I thought that she had, that's why I called you"

"I understand" he assured her and there was a moment of silence between them.

Inside the room, Lissa moved in her sleep, but didn't wake up.

"You there, Pyro?"

"Yes, Rose, I'm still here" he said, annoyed by the nickname she had given him "I was thinking..."

"I never thought that was possible"

"and I'm going to go back home on the next flight that leaves from Paris"

"What about Tasha?"

Rose had never met Christian's aunt but she knew that she had been the one to take care of him after his parents had been arrested for trying to kidnap him when he was only ten years old. Natasha had gone to France years later but Christian, who was already an adult at the eyes of the law, had decided to stay on the USA, and there were not many chances for them to be together.

"My aunt will understand" Christian sounded confident and Rose decided not to worry for Tasha Ozera for longer "Don't tell, Liss, okay? It'll be a surprise"

"Sure, Sparky" she smiled, and wondered once more when creepy Ozera and she had become friends "Now let me go back to sleep"

"Love you too, psycho" he said before hanging up and Rose went back to the bed, wanting nothing more than to sleep for the next few days.

 

* * *

 

Sadly for her, she must have angered God in another life, because karma kicked in that morning, when Janine Hathaway herself knocked on Lissa's door.

Rose moved on the bed and it took her a moment to realize that Lissa was no longer on it. She must have let her sleep. _Crap._

"Don't punish her for coming, please. I called her. I wasn't feeling okay, I needed Rose here"

There was a moment of silence and, as she walked out of the room and down the stairs, Rose knew that not even her righteous mother was able to say no to Lissa's charm.

"Rose" Lissa greeted her when she saw her "Your mum had the window fixed just moments ago" she smiled "I explained to her that someone broke it in the middle of the night and it scared me, so I called you because I was afraid of being alone"

Lissa's smile was as bright as the sun and even if she didn't show that she was lying, her friend saw that her eyes were full of mischief. Rose smiled back and was about to answer when her mother interrupted.

"You need to go home now and apologize to Alberta for behaving so rudely yesterday night" 

"Are you coming?"

"No" Janine replied and adjusted her jacket "I must go to meet Mr. Szelzky now"

She gave her farewells and left without another word. Rose and Lissa walked to the kitchen and the blonde served coffee for both of them.

"Your mother looked angry" Lissa said, and Rose knew that she felt guilty for it because she had been the reason why she had left her house in the middle of the night.

"Angry? Nope. That's only the Janine Hathaway face" Rose smiled at her, kindly, and drank her coffee.

                       

* * *

 

 

Alberta hadn't been angry with her at all, even if she had made it clear that the next time Rose wanted to leave because of Lissa, she should talk to her instead of jumping out of her window.

Rose had to admit that the woman was amazing. Alberta was their housekeeper, their protector, even if Rose had never known why a guardian like her mother, who took care of the safety of a rich businessman such as Szelzky, needed a guardian to keep her house secure. She had helped her with her homework when she was little and had been the one who had thought her how to defend herself once she was old enough to kick some ass. She was probably one of the few people in her life who deserved her respect.

Hours later, Rose was lying on her bed reading and old book about Romanian legends right after texting Christian to ask him if he had already found a flight, when her mother called.

"Rosemarie. I forgot a folder on my desk this morning; I need you to bring it to Szelzky Enterprises as soon as you can"

A part of her wanted to tell her mother to go to hell but another part knew that picking up a fight was not the wisest idea. Moreover, she didn't have the strength to fight her mother at the moment.

"Sure" she said and stood up from the bed to go to her mother's studio.

While she walked down the stairs, out of the house, and to her car, she wondered when she had become so accustomed to her mother's apparent indifference that she didn't even care about it anymore.

 

* * *

                     

The headquarters of Szelzky Enterprises where in the center of town, and were the tallest building in it, crowning the north side of the Ekaterina Zeklos Plaza. She didn't have a hard time getting in, even if the door was full of more security than usual, because most of them were her mother's friends and knew who she was. As she headed to the elevator, she saw Eddie.

"Hey, there" she smiled at him and they embraced each other.

"Hey, stranger" Eddie replied "it's been almost a month since I last saw you!"

"And whose fault is that?" Rose replied "I'm not the one who signed up to be a badass guardian"

"That's because you are pretty badass already" he winked at her.

Eddie Castile had been her friend for almost as long as her best friend, Mason Ashford, and Rose hated and loved both of them with all her heart.

"Where is Mase?" she asked him.

"Drowning on paperwork" Eddie held her arm and moved her closer to him, lowering his voice "Galina died a couple of days ago and someone else is on top now. Alto has Mase archiving some papers on the matter"

Rose looked at him, shocked. Galina was, had been, not only her mother's boss but also the headmistress of St. Anna Security, and leader of all the guardians under her command, including those who had just started working for her, such as Eddie and Mason.

"Do we know who the boss is now?"

"Not your mother" Eddie laughed "That's the question of the day, though, I hope that Mason can discover it"

"Well, tell me when you know" she kissed his cheek, walked away, hearing his laugh behind her, and got into the crowded elevator.

Mr. Szelzky's office was on the last floor of the building and she had to endure endless minutes of loud talking, snoring, empty gazes and bad smells before she got there.

There was a woman behind a desk smiling at her when she approached the office's door.

"Mr. Szelzky is on a meeting right now, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to give this to Janine Hathaway" she answered showing her the folder and faking a smile. Let to her mother to think that she could not be a good, dutiful, daughter "I believe that she must be with Mr. Szelzky"

"Wait here, please" the woman told her and stood up, adjusting her skirt and walking into the office.

Rose felt out of place there, with her black boots and pants and her dark red shirt, while the rest of the people there wore a grey uniform. She decided to check her phone, and found a message from Christian.

_I'll be there for dinner. Don't tell Lissa._

She was so focused writing an answer that she almost missed her mother coming out of the room. The woman who had attended her came with her an sat behind the desk without another word. A third person came out with them but her mother was talking to her and she didn't have time to see who he was.

Rose handed her the folder.

"Thank you" Janine said "I should go back inside"

"You’re welcome" and she turned around, to find that the elevators doors were closing.

For a moment she was sure that they were going to close on her face but a hand made sure they remained open. Rose jumped inside. She mentally thanked the guy who had walked out of Mr. Szelzky's office, who was the one that had stopped the doors.

He turned slightly to look at her for a moment while he kept on talking on his phone in Russian.

_Sweet sassy molassy._

She took a moment to check him out, knowing that he was not aware of her gaze. He had chin-length dark brown color hair, was probably around six-foot-seven, with a well-muscled physique. Her eyes lingered on his broad shoulders and muscular biceps. He wore a black button up shirt, rolled up to the elbows, dark jeans and black dress shoes. When he hanged up his phone, she forced herself to speak.

"Thank you for keeping the doors open, Comrade"

His beautiful chocolate brown eyes looked straight into hers.

"You’re welcome" he said, a strong Russian accent decorating his words. It made her shiver.

They felt silent and Rose tried her best not to look at him. And failed miserably. Only when the doors opened and she walked out she dared to turn to him, who hadn't moved.

"You didn't tell me your name" she smiled, feeling awkward.

Much to her surprise, the Russian God smiled back.

"Dimitri" he said and his eyes met hers again "and you are?"

The doors closed before he could stop them and she had no time to answer him. She smiled to herself, though, and walked through the hall and out of the building. She had to go to Lissa's, but first, she needed to buy some coffee. _You should be used to it by now, Rose_ , she told herself. _No sleep means endless cups of coffee._


	2. A little party never killed nobody

When she walked into Lissa's house her friend was on her room, getting dressed. Oscar walked past Rose when she walked in and eyed her as though he wanted to kill her.

"The feeling is mutual, beast" she spat at the cat and then sat on the bed.

Lissa smiled at her. She was in front of the full-body mirror that she had next to the wardrobe, adjusting a beautiful white dress.

"Oscar likes you, you know? He is just possessive over me" she laughed and turned to look at her.

"Well, I was here before he was even born, which means I come before him" Rose replied and Lissa raised an eyebrow at her "Where are you going anyway?"

"Shopping, it always cheers me up" she smiled "and you are coming with me"

"Of course I'm going with you; I'm the one who's got a car"

Lissa rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse, heading to the door with Rose following her.

"Sometimes you are just like Christian" she confessed.

"I know" Rose replied and quickly added "Just...don't tell him that I said that, please, I have a reputation to maintain"

Lissa's answer was a bright laugh.

"I can't promise you that"

Rose opened the car's door and sat on her seat while her friend left her purse on the back seats, right before sitting next to her. They both put their safety belts on and Lissa checked it twice, but Rose didn't make any commentary about it. She knew that her friend felt safer that way. Lissa put the music on and looked through the window, not wanting to talk, and Rose sighted.

Ever since the accident, Lissa had not been able to drive, which meant that Rose, and sometimes Christian, had to take her everywhere. That had never bothered Rose, of course, she’d do anything for her best friend after all, but it pained her to see how she tensed every time she got inside the vehicle, how she would not dare to speak until they had reached her destination, and how she would shiver every time there was a lot of traffic. Miss. Karp, Lissa’s therapist, said that such behavior was not unusual, that after a traumatic experience like the one they’d lived, it was not possible for neither of them to move on with their lives like nothing had happened.

Lissa’s depression and fear for the traffic were her way of learning how to live with the pain. Time had made her happier, though, even if the scars of her heart were still visible on her skin, and she was getting better. Rose’s demons were different. She had them hidden deep inside of her, knowing that she needed to be strong for Lissa, but they would come out from time to time in nightmares, making her wake up screaming in the middle of the night. That truth was a secret that she had never shared with Lissa, and only she knew of it, even if Rose was pretty sure that Christian had learnt of it a while ago, when they had had to share a room during a road trip to visit Lissa on Victor Daskov’s manor the previous summer.

The only shopping center in town was Drozdov Centre, owned by Lissa’s ex’s family, who belonged to one of the rich families the Dragomir’s had always been friends off. It had been ages since Rose had last seen Aaron Drozdov, because he hadn’t dared to cross paths with Lissa since she left him for Christian. Any other person would have felt bad for poor Aaron, but not Rose, for she had always known that Lissa was not meant for him. He was too stupid and too dull, and next to him Christian Ozera, who Rose loved to hate and hated to love, was the life and soul of any party.

She parked the car and turn off the music before turning to check on Lissa. The blonde rolled her eyes at her.

“We are alive and I’m fine, Rose. Stop worrying” she stated, taking her purse form the back seat and walking out of the car.

Rose nodded and walked out of the car too, following her friend into the building.

The Drozdov Centre had four floors. The first two were full of shops, while the third had only restaurants, and the fourth had a cinema. It was not unusual for the place to be as crowded as it was, and yet the amount of people around them made Rose uncomfortable.

They were heading to one of Lissa’s favorite perfume shops when a girl that didn’t look older than fourteen pushed Rose as she walked by her.

“Watch out, you idiot!” she spat at her and kept on walking.

Hadn’t it been for Lissa’s hand on her elbow and for the calm that she gave her, Rose would have gladly told the girl a few things, and not all of them particularly nice or beautiful.

“Unbelievable” she told Lissa as they walk into the shop.

“I know, right?” her friend replied, smiling at the saleswoman. She took a little bottle of perfume in her hand but left it back on the shelve as soon as she smelt it, making a face “How dare she mess with the infamous Rosemarie Hathaway”

Rose raised an eyebrow.

“I’m for real, Liss”

“So am I” her friend replied, smiling, and Rose couldn’t do nothing more than smile back.

After smelling what felt like half of the bottles in the shop, Lissa decided to buy a lavender perfume, and joked with Rose telling her that she should have bought an eau of roses. The joke was so bad that the brunette couldn’t stop laughing at it, even if she didn’t replied to it.

They were going throw a massive shop when, suddenly, Lissa stopped and looked at Rose as though she had remembered something terrible.

“What is it?”

“Natalie is throwing a party next week!” she said “And we don’t even have our dresses yet! How could I forget it?”

Rose punched her arm.

“You scared me, Liss, I thought it was some life and death matter”

“But it is, Rose!” she took her hand “Come on, we have to find something”

Lissa started picking dresses and her friend wondered if she was even looking at them before taking them. She guessed not. She probably meant to choose one once she tried them all on.

“I don’t think Natalie would care if I didn’t go” Rose said, more to herself than to Lissa.

Natalie Dashkov was like a cousin to Lissa, but Rose and she had never truly been friends, even if the girl had tried her best to get along with her. She was nice at times, Rose had to give her that much, but she was not the company she’s choose to have on a Saturday night party. For everything that Rose knew, Natalie wasn’t even the kind of girl who went to parties. She spent most of her time studying, and even if she was one of the richest girls in town, she had never really been a part of the elite that Lissa had belonged to before her parents’ deaths.

“What do you mean?” Lissa gave her a serious look “Natalie adores you” upon seeing Rose’s face, she continued “I know that she is not the best company in the world and that she talks a lot, and it’s a little gossip sometimes, but she is nice, and her father is like an uncle to me. Plus, I mean it, Rose; she really thinks you are great”

“Okay, then, let’s find me a dress. I’ll be your date” it was a lie of course, because even if Rose had every intention of going with Lissa, she’d make sure to drag Christian with them to be her friend’s date. He’d hate her for it, she knew it already, but she didn’t want to be the only one bored at the party and misery loved company, so the lover boy would have to suck it up.

It didn’t take Lissa much longer than five minutes to find her a dress. It was sleeveless, black, and so simple that Rose wasn’t able to explain why she found it so beautiful.

“I know you love it” her friend smiled at her before she said anything “Let’s go try it on”

 

* * *

 

 

By the time they walked out of the shopping center, Lissa had bought herself a beautiful, vaporous, green dress that matched her eyes, a pair of new shoes, some earrings and a necklace. Rose had settled for the dress, which cost more than she had wanted to spend, and, because of Lissa’s insistence, she had let her friend buy her a pair of black heels.

The ride back to Lissa’s house was quiet, the silence only broken by the music playing on the radio. Rose tried not to smile. Christian had texted her while they were shopping, telling her that he was already at Lissa’s and that he was going to cook her dinner, and Rose couldn’t wait to see Lissa’s reaction to her boyfriend’s surprise.

Much to Rose’s surprise, though, the lights of the house were off when they got there. They grabbed the bags and climbed the steps while Lissa pulled out her kiss to open the door.

“I will pay you for the heels” Rose told her, walking into the house behind her.

“There’s no need for you to do that, Rose” Lissa was probably going to add something else, but she had no time to do so, because, before any of them could turn the lights on, someone else did.

Lissa’s bags fell to the floor as she ran to hug her boyfriend. Christian Ozera’s laugh filled the room when he caught her in his arms, holding her tight. Rose forced herself to look away from them when they kissed because, as much as she thought that they made a good couple, she couldn’t stand them when they made such obvious displays of affection in front of her. As soon as they pulled away from the kiss, Christian turned to Rose.

“Don’t worry, crazypants, I have hugs for you too” he walked away from Lissa and to Rose. And Rose walked backwards and away from him.

“Don’t you dare…” but he was already hugging her, and she hugged him back, because deep down she was happy to have him back, knowing that it would cheer up Lissa.

He pulled away from Rose and took Lissa between his arms again.

“I made you dinner” Ozera informed them.

“And that’s why I still haven’t kick your ass” Rose smiled “I really love your food”

Lissa laughed but rolled her eyes at her, visibly happy.

 

* * *

 

 

Christian had made a French plate who's name Rose couldn't pronounce but ate anyway, and the three of them had dinner together.

Lissa was shining as her boyfriend told them about his time in France. When they were finished with the food, Christian showed them some pictures his aunt and him had taken, and Rose didn't dare to ask about Tasha's scars, she had made that mistake once, and Christian had not wanted to talk about it and had not talked to her for a few days.

She had learnt the truth thanks to Mason, though, because, as soon as she had told him about it, her best friend had looked through every file that he could find to discover why Ozera's aunt had half of her face full of scars that looked like someone had bitten into her face, tearing out part of her cheek. He had found what he wanted quickly, learning that Natasha Ozera's scars were made by her own brother, Lucas, Christian's father, when his wife Moira and himself had gone to Tasha's house to kidnap Christian when he was ten years old, to trade him, or sell him, Rose wasn't sure of that, in order to get themselves more drugs to satisfy their addiction. Tasha had fought them on her own until help arrived, because Moira and Lucas had killed the family's two guardians before going into the house. Rose hoped she could meet her someday.

Christian was telling Lissa that she'd love Paris when Rose phone started ringing. She excused herself and walked out of the kitchen to answer it.

"Yes?" she said.

"Rose!" Mason answered "Eddie told me he saw you this morning. I don't know what you two wanted me to discover but I do know of a place were an amazing party is being held tonight"

Rose laughed.

"I'm at Lissa's right now" she said.  
  
She heard Mason's breath stop at the other side of the line.

"Does she need you there?" he asked, misunderstanding her words.

"No, no, don't worry, she is fine. And Christian is here, so she has all the company she needs for the night"

"That's great! I'll pick you up in half an hour, then? Eddie managed to get our names on the list so there's no problem if you need more time to get ready"

"Half an hour is fine, Mase" Rose assured him "I'll see you then"

He sent her a kiss before hanging up and that made her smile. She had always known that Mason had feelings for her and, even if sometimes she had wanted to tell him that she felt the same because she thought that there was no one better for her, she had never really felt that kind of love towards him and she couldn't lie to him.

"I'm coming in, guys, and I hope you are not hocking up"

Christian shot her a deadly glare and Rose smirked back at him.

"Who was that?" Lissa inquired.

"Mason" Rose smiled at her "I'm going out with him and Eddie" she didn't miss the dirty glare Christian gave Lissa, but she pretend like she had.

"I'll sleep at mine today" she told them and Lissa smiled at her warmly, silently thanking her.

Rose kissed her friend's cheek and left them picking up the dishes, walking upstairs. She was still wearing the same clothes as she had that morning but decided to fix her hair and put some make up on.

 

* * *

 

 

Mason arrived on time, and Rose rushed out of Lissa's house and into his car. Her friend had opened the passenger’s door for her and she put on her safety belt as soon as she sat down.

“We are all in” Meredith laughed from behind Rose “Let’s go!”

Rose turned to look at her and Eddie, who was sitting behind Mason.

“It’s been a while, Meredith” her friend’s dirty blond hair was braided to the side and she was wearing tight black jeans and a blue blouse.

“I know” she sighed “But I’ve been struggling with a lot of work lately so I can go up in the rank and work with Eddie and Mase next fall”

Rose turned her eyes to the road ahead of them. She still couldn’t understand the love her friends had for their job. Maybe it was because she had lived with a guardian mother, that rarely showed her any affection and was always absent, but, even if Rose was pretty good at self-defence, combat, and had wanted to be a guardian when she was a little girl, she didn’t see the appeal of it anymore.   

The ride to the pub was not long, and Mason and Eddie spent the whole journey talking about how Mase had been unable to discover who the head of St. Anna Security was. Rose had to laugh because Mason looked almost offended when Eddie told him that maybe he wasn’t as good as he believed himself to be when it came to hacking their own security system.

“You’ll have the name before tomorrow night” he promised them and parked the car.

 _The Golden Lily_ was the most famous pub in town and it was, as usual, full of people. Sadly for all those who were waiting on the line, most of the people who got in there were on a list and, thanks to Rose’s friendship with the owner, she and her friends were some of the lucky people who could walk by at any time and walk into the pub in a matter of seconds.

Eddie greeted the guard happily and Mason put an arm around Meredith’s shoulder as they walked in, making the girl giggle. Sometimes Rose wondered if Mason knew that their friend had a crush on him. She thought that maybe he did, but hadn’t acknowledged it because he didn’t return her feelings, and it made her sad, because that’s exactly how she felt about him.

She shook her head and tried to put those thoughts away as they walked through the crowd, making their way to the bar as people danced around them. She could barely hear what Meredith was saying to Eddie due to the loud music and by the time they got to the bar all of them were shouting to understand one another.

“Sage!” Rose screamed at the girl behind the bar as soon as she saw her.

Sydney was serving some _Bloody Mary_ ’s but as soon as she was finished she turned to them, smiling. She was wearing her dark blonde hair on a bun and her amber eyes were kind when they met Rose’s. She had a tattoo of a golden lily on her cheek, that gave its name to the pub, and it glowed under the neon lights.

“Took you guys long enough, I was starting to think you were not going to come”

“We’re here now, aren’t we?” Mason replied “How about you give us something to drink?”

Eddie joined them on the bar as Meredith danced next to him.

“Four _Indigo Spell_ s, Syd, please, on me” he asked her, and the bartender proceed to serve her most famous drinks.

Rose smiled when Sydney gave her the drink, knowing that it wasn’t exactly legal, because neither of them had the legal age to drink. But then again, no one was going to tell that little fact to the authorities. She took a long sip of it as Meredith dragged Mason to the dance floor with her and Eddie laughed.

“Do you think he knows that she is head over heels for him?” he asked, drinking and raising an eyebrow at her.

“I have no idea, Eddie” it bothered her to yell when she wanted to speak, but the music was too loud.

She was barely aware of a blonde that was eyeing Eddie from across the room until he told her that she was going to see if the girl wanted to dance. He drank the _Indigo Spell_ entirely before walking away from Rose. She rolled her eyes, taking another sip of her drink.

“They left you all alone, I see” a voice said behind her, and the Russian accent sent shivers running throw her spine.

She turned around slowly and met a pair of beautiful brown eyes staring at her.

“Dimitri” she managed, smiling.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon and yet I must admit you are rather a wonderful sight” he confessed with a smile and, just like that, Rose’s night got a thousand times better.


	3. Same old love

The loud music was still making Rose a little dizzy and the fact that there was a hot Russian in front of her looking at her like she was the only thing in the room didn’t exactly help her.

“Should I give you a harassment suit?” she told him, her eyes looking around to see where her friends were, just in case the guy was some kind of freak.

“You think I’m following you?” he laughed and, despite the music, she heard him perfectly, for he was close to her, maybe too close “How can I when I don’t even know your name?”

Rose took another sip of her drink. She had forgotten that little detail. After a moment of hesitation, she smiled back at him.

“My name is Rose” she told him.

There was a moment of silence when he just stared at her, his face so stoic that she could not read anything on it, and then he made a gesture to Sydney to approach, right before saying “It makes sense” with a crooked smile.

To Sydney, he said “I’ll have whatever the lady is having”

That made the bartender smile and, as she prepared an _Indigo Spell_ for him she gave Rose a look, which made the brunette roll her eyes. Her friend was usually lost when it came to relationships, and almost never knew when a guy was hitting on her, but she always seemed to know when Rose was into someone.

“This one is no lady, sir” she smiled at Dimitri, handing him his drink and taking his money.

“Keep the change”

Sydney walked away, moving to the other side of the bar and Rose eyed Dimitri.

“So, what are you doing on this side of the world, Comrade?”  

“I’ve lived in the States for many years, Rose” he replied “But, to answer your question, I’ve gotten a promotion at work, so right now you could say that I’m…settling here”

She looked down briefly, trying to hide a smile, wondering why knowing that he was going to be around made her happy, and then looked at him again, raising her glass.

“Congratulations, then”  

He mimicked her actions and they both took another sip from their drinks. Dimitri finished it and left on the bar before standing from the chair. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and then offered Rose his hand.

“Care to dance, Roza?” there a was a daring glitter on his brown eyes and, as Rose had never been able to say no to a challenge, no matter what it was about, she emptied her glass, left it on the bar, and took his hand with a smile.

“Gladly, Comrade”

Rose didn’t know for how long they danced, maybe four songs, maybe six, and yet Dimitri moved easily with her, even if she would have never guessed that someone so tall would be able to move gracefully. She didn’t even know where Mason, Meredith and Eddie where, all she knew was that she shouldn’t be feeling so comfortable with a guy she had just met. And yet, as she moved her hands in the air, the feeling of his hands on her waist made her feel on heaven. They went back to the bar after a while, sitting comfortably next to each other, and the smile that he was giving her made Rose shiver.

“You move quite well for a Russian” she smirked.

“I’ll take that as a compliment”

Rose was going to reply that it had indeed been a compliment when they were interrupted. Her jaw almost dropped when a tall, brunette, woman approached them. She was wearing a short, black, skirt and a blouse with white and black stripes, and wore matching black heels. It was something you’d expect to see on an office, not at a bar, and still she looked like some kind of Viking goddess. Dimitri turned to her with a smile placing a hand on her waist as she leaned to speak to him, trying to make him hear her despite the music. Rose was pretty sure that whatever she told him, it was not in English, because she understood none of it. Dimitri kissed the woman’s cheek before giving her his car’s keys, as Rose watched both of them in shock. She got suddenly angry, not only because he was kissing another woman’s cheek when only moments before he had been flirting with her, but also because they seemed to had forgotten that she was still there. The woman left and Dimitri’s attention was back on her, but Rose was no longer smiling.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go with her? She may need your assistance” she spat.

He looked lost and it took him a moment to understand what Rose meant, but when he did, he smiled at her.

“I’m sure _my sister_ will be able to find her way back home without me”

There were not many people who could leave Rose Hathaway speechless, and yet Dimitri seemed to have entered that short list with a simple sentence. There were also few people who could make her feel stupid. She bit her lip and made a face, much to his amusement.

“Your sister? She seems nice” she managed to say after a moment.

He was still smiling.

“Her name is Karolina” Dimitri explained “she’s the only member of my family that lives here with me”

Rose nodded, no longer angry with him, but still feeling like an idiot. Had she truly been jealous? She tried to tell herself that she hadn’t, that she had only felt ignored, and that she didn’t like the Russian God that much.

“Good to know” she looked away from him, embarrassed, trying to find Sydney, but the bartender was nowhere near her “Why are you smiling?” she asked turning back to him.

His eyes burned on her skin, and she was sure that if he kept on looking at her like that she’d melt.

“Because you are breathtakingly beautiful, Roza” Dimitri confessed, leaning towards her to make sure she could listen him perfectly.

Once again, she was speechless, but before she could say anything his face was emotionless again, and he moved away from her a little.

“That was completely out of place” he excused himself “I apologize”

Rose swallowed and shook her head.

“Hathaway!” the voice came from behind her, making her turn around.

Meredith was making her way through the crowd and to her, with Eddie close behind her. Eddie’s shirt was half unbuttoned and Meredith seemed to be a little too drunk.

“We are leaving” Eddie informed when they got to her, and looked briefly at Dimitri, frowning “Mason has gone to get the car to the door”

“Go on, then” Rose smiled “I’ll be right behind you”

As Eddie and Meredith walked past Rose the former screamed a goodbye to Sydney and the bartender threw him a kiss. Shaking her head, Rose turned to Dimitri.

“I must go” she told him and he nodded. Looking for something on his pocket, he gave a little card to her, and she put it inside her jacket without even looking at it “Goodbye, Dimitri”

She moved past him but could still listen to him saying “Goodnight, Rose” as she walked away.

Her friends were waiting for her outside and she was quick to get into the car, seeing as Meredith looked like she was going to throw up at any moment. Mason was driving, which was comforting, as he was the one who had drunk the least. Rose’s house was the closest one to _The Golden Lily_ , so she was the first one to leave. There was no one at home, not even Alberta, and Rose went directly to her room. Throwing her clothes and boots away she threw herself on the bed and, after lying there for a while, she decided to take her jacket again to see what Dimitri had given her. As she lay back on the bed again, she froze, reading the card. Under his name, was his phone number and, under it, the job he had told her about.

“Dimitri Belikov” she read, not believing what her eyes were seeing “CEO of St. Anna Security”

 

* * *

 

 

Rose had spent hours turning around in her bed, unable to sleep, so she was not surprised when she looked at herself on the mirror the following morning and found that she looked like she had been partying all night without even going home. Jumping into the shower, she thought about it no more. When water started falling on her, though, she couldn’t help remembering the feeling of Dimitri’s hands on her waist the previous night, and yet, even if that thought was beyond good, at the same time she remembered that he was her mother’s boss and whatever excitement she felt at the thought of him was gone. A part of her, a very little, very weak, part of her, didn’t want to see him again.

When she walked out of the shower, she put her still wet hair on a bun, and, getting into some grey sweatpants and putting on a simple black T-shirt, she got ready to go to Lissa’s. She had left her car at her friend’s house the previous day, which meant that she had to walk there, but the sun was up and it was a nice summer morning, so it didn’t bother her at all. Half an hour later she walked into Lissa’s house, opening the front door with her own set of keys.

“Morning, Liss” Rose said, walking to the kitchen, where she could hear someone preparing breakfast.

She should have known that it was not Lissa, because the blonde didn’t know how to cook. Rose had always suspected that her inability to cook was the main reason why her friend was vegetarian. Instead, she found Christian Ozera making pancakes, wearing nothing but his underwear. She was quick to cover her eyes.

“In the name of God, Ozera! Put something on!” she demanded “My eyes, my poor eyes”

His laugh was the only answer Rose received as she moved her hand to look at him.

“What kind of person cooks on his underwear!” she protested and he rolled his eyes at her.

“One who’s not afraid of fire” Christian said as though it was obvious “And you should quit complaining, ghost girl, I'm making you breakfast”

Rose smiled at him, sitting at the table.

“Is Lissa still in bed?”

He nodded, serving some pancakes for her and, after putting some cream on them, he gave the plate to Rose, who took it but waited for him to serve himself and to sit in front of her before starting to eat.

“You can slow down, you know? No one’s going to eat your food” Ozera raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m hungry” she managed to reply, with a full mouth, making him laugh.

They finished their breakfast in silence, and Rose remembered the first time he had cooked something for her. It had been a chocolate cake, for her nineteenth birthday, right after she had told him that, even if Lissa was in love with him, she still did not like him. The bastard had made a good point by giving her the most delicious chocolate cake she had ever tasted, and Rose had decided to give him a chance.

“How come you never get fat?” he asked suddenly “You eat even more than I do!”

Rose shook her shoulders.

“I have good genes” she finished her breakfast and stood to leave the plate inside the sink.

Lissa came into the kitchen with a smile on her face, making Rose wonder how an ordinary person could look so flawless right after waking up. The answer was easy: Lissa was not ordinary, she was almost divine.

“I just talked to Uncle Victor” she informed after greeting her boyfriend with a kiss “he has invited me to have lunch with him today. Says he needs to talk to me about something”

“You abandon me?” Christian protested with puppy eyes, making Lissa laugh.

“You’ll have Rose to make you company”

The brunette, who had opened the fridge and was looking for something else to eat, turned to look at them with a frown after taking a bottle of orange juice.

“Really? You go to eat to a fancy restaurant and I have to stay with your creepy boyfriend?”

Christian eyed her like he wanted to kill her and she smiled.

“You love me, Hathaway, stop denying it” he winked at her and Rose rolled her eyes before looking at Lissa, whose green eyes seem to be pleading.

“I’m going to shower and get ready because Uncle Victor likes to eat his lunch early” she gave a quick look at the clock on the wall “and it’s already midday” looking back at her boyfriend and her best friend, she pointed her finger at them “Behave”

Lissa went to her room and when she came down, Rose and Christian were sitting on the couch, and Lissa thanked God that the latter had finally put some pajama pants on. As Rose moved to grab the remote that Christian had placed out of her reach, and he fought her so she couldn’t take it, Lissa bid them farewell and left with a smile, after reassuring Rose that she didn’t need a ride.

Christian didn’t let her change the channel but, after a while, he turned to her with a smile. She was curled up at the other side of the couch. He stood up without saying anything and, knowing that she was frowning at him, he turned on the PlayStation. When he sat back on the couch, he handed her one of the controls and, looking at him like a cat would look a dog, she took it a moved closer. They spent a while playing and, when they got hungry, Christian called to ask for a pizza, and he tried not to look surprised when Rose started eating portions of pizza that where almost as big as her head while beating his ass at the fight game that they were playing. By the time Lissa came back Christian was cursing and Rose was dancing around the room with a coke can on her hand because she had beaten him…again.

“She is crazy” Ozera told Lissa, standing from the couch and kissing her sweetly on the lips, making the blonde smile.

“And yet she has beaten your ass half a dozen times today” Rose laughed at him, making a face.

Taking a sip of her coke, she smiled at Lissa, who was laughing happily looking at them, which was enough to make Rose happy too.

“How about we go for another round?” Christian dared her and, after finishing her coke, Rose nodded.

“Get ready to see your lover boy bite the dust, Liss”

The three of them sat on Lissa’s couch and Rose handed Ozera the control, while Lissa looked at them as though they were the most amazing thing she had ever seen which, Rose thought, could be possible, because, even if Christian was lame most of the time, she was quite formidable.


	4. Flower of the sea

Having a free day was not something Eddie Castile was used to so, after waking up and having breakfast, he decided to go to the gym and train, because he just couldn’t stay home doing nothing. The gym from St. Anna Headquarters, placed on one of the lower levels of the building, was the best equipped one in town, and it was for employees only. Sadly for him, that meant that he had to deal with Angeline Dawes’ presence.

He walked past her on his way to where the weights were and she didn’t even look at him, which was good, considering that the last time they had been together in a room they had ended up fighting because she started yelling at him and Mason and Neil had had to pull them apart. Eddie sighed. Their breakup hadn’t been easy for him, both because he had really felt something for her and because she looked like she hadn’t felt anything for him at all. Angeline left soon after his arrival and, even if Eddie guessed that it was because of his presence, he didn’t really care, because he was glad to have her out of sight.

Eddie didn’t spend much time on the gym, though, his good mood fully gone, and after taking a quick shower, he put on some new clothes, put the sweaty ones inside his training bag, and headed out of the building. Checking his phone, he let out a curse. He had five missing calls from Sydney. Running down the stairs, to the garage, where he had parked his car, Eddie called her back and his heart almost jumped from his chest when she didn’t answer immediately because Sydney was not one to let her mobile buzz, and was definitely not one to call someone that many times unless it was a matter of life and death. She answered a couple of heartbeats later, as he got into his car.

“Where were you?” her voice sounded demanding.

“At the gym, sorry. What is it?”

“Can you come over to the bar?” Sydney asked “There’s a situation”

He tensed.

“Are you alright, Syd?”

“Yes” she assured him “Yes, I’m fine. I just need you to come”

Eddie knew that there was something wrong, something she was not telling him, but he didn’t think that was important. The only thing relevant at the moment was that she needed him.

“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty” he promised.

In the end, he was there in ten minutes. He’d tell Sydney it was because there was barely traffic on the streets if she asked, which was true, but wouldn’t mention that he may have broken a couple of traffic laws, because she’d surely give him a speech.

He saw what the problem was as soon as he walked to the bar’s door. The lock was broken and the metal door, which was half open, looked like someone had been hitting on it with a hammer or with some kind of big weapon.

“Syd?” he called, reaching for the service gun that all guardians carried with them and that he had on his bag.

“It’s okay, Ed!” she answered from inside the bar “I’m in here”

Walking in, he found Sydney behind the bar, placing bottles on it and writing things on a little notebook. Her hair was up on a ponytail and she looked stressed.

“What happened to the door?”

Leaving the notebook aside, his friend looked up at him, her amber eyes looking straight into his hazel ones.

“Someone tried to break it, obviously. Three guys, two of them were as tall as you are, the other one was a little shorter. They were all wearing black clothes”

“Wait” he stopped her “You saw this people?”

“Yes” Sydney nodded, taking a mug full of coffee that was next to the notebook and drinking a long sip “They were on the door when I arrived but they run away as soon as I walked out of the car and started yelling at them. But they had a hammer, Eddie, and they had broken the lock. They would have gotten in if I hadn’t arrived”

“They had a hammer and you thought that it was a good idea to confront them?” he looked at her with severity, like a big brother lecturing his sister, but she rolled her eyes.

“They left, didn’t they?” she smiled at him, trying to call him down “I’ve made sure there was nothing missing but now I need to get that door fixed and a new security system” she explained “I called a guy to put a new door, and hearing how much is going to cost almost killed me, so please, tell me that you can find me a security system that won’t let me broke”

Eddie thought about it, knowing that, even if he worked for a security agency that not only provided personal protection to individuals but also sell security systems, there was no way that he would manage to get a low price on anything because he was not that important inside the agency and he had barely started working there.

“I can’t” he said after a moment of silence “but let me make a call, I’m sure Rose can” he took out his phone “Being friends with a Hathaway should have its perks, after all, right?”

 

* * *

 

If it had been any other person, Rose wouldn’t have done it, she would have made up some excuse or say that she was busy, or simply cut them off and hear not their request, but she could not say no to Eddie Castile, and she could not refuse Sydney Sage, not after all the times the both of them had helped her. So, after parting ways with Christian and Lissa, whom were going to the cinema that afternoon, she got into her car and started driving towards that facility to where she had promised to never return.

St. Anna Security’s headquarters were at the outskirts of town, half hidden on the forest that surrounded the city, on the middle of the mountains of Montana. It was an old building attached to an equally old academy named St. Vladimir’s Academy, the place where Rose, Lissa and all of their friends had studied. The man who gave the academy its name, St. Vladimir, had been a Russian saint, and it was his example that some of the old royal Russian families followed when they decided to immigrate to North America, centuries before. He had been adored by many and it was said that he was able to make plants bloom when he walked past and bring people from the blink of death, almost like he was Jesus Christ himself.

Rose had always hated St. Vladimir, mostly because of all of the loopholes and nonsenses she found in his story. Anna’s story, on the other hand, was not one that she hated, but one she looked at with respect, for it had always creeped her out, especially on those last years after her accident. Anna, called the shadow kissed for reasons unknown to Rose, had been St. Vladimir’s friend and protector since he saved her life when she was a child, and it was that spirit of protection that the first guardians wanted to pass onto the next generations, thus giving the agency that name. Rose was sure they had forgotten, or maybe they didn’t want to remember, that as Vladimir grew older he had become weak and often got sick, and Anna, who took care of him, slowly started going mad, only to kill herself a few months after Vladimir died.

Her car complained when she turned to the right on a sandy road but was fine again when she got back to the actual road, reaching the building. She entered through the underground garage and it took her a while to find a place to park. Once she had parked, she took a deep breath, reaching for her jacket, which she had left on the passenger’s side, and walking out of the car. She had called Alberta after talking to Eddie, wanting to make sure where her mother was, and had cursed when she had learnt that she’d be at the office that day, arranging some paperwork at Mr. Szelzky’s orders.

The elevators doors opened and Rose went to the main floor, walking fast to the receptionist, and found a smiling Meredith behind the desk.

“Hi, Rose, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“Looking for my mother. Do you know where she is?”

Meredith made a face and shook her head, right before indicating her to wait a moment and grabbing the phone, as she typed something on her computer. After a moment, Meredith turned her attention back to Rose.

“Guardian Hathaway is on her office on the 5th floor, 3rd door to the left” she informed and Rose nodded, thanking her and walking to the elevator again.

Other guardians joined her inside it and the elevator stopped on different levels, as guardians came in and out of it. With her hands on her jacket’s pockets, Rose played with the little card that was on the right one, being perfectly aware of the fact the 5th floor, which was the last floor, had de offices of the headmaster, the vice principal, and those of all the guardians that were members of the High Council, such as her mother. As soon as the doors opened, she walked out of the elevator and turned to the corridor on her left, only to stop when she reached the office’s door. She wouldn’t have knocked, but she knew that she had to be in good terms with her mother if he wanted her to help Sydney. She waited outside until a voice from the inside told her to come in.

Janine Hathaway, sitting behind her desk, almost looked surprised to see her daughter, but the emotion face quickly from her face. Moving a lock of auburn her behind her eyes, she raised an eyebrow at Rose as she approached her.

“What brings you here?”

“Someone tried to rob Sydney” Rose said, not wanting to make their talk last longer than it needed to last “I’m here to ask you, as a favor to me, that you provide her with a good security system, as she doesn’t have the means to acquire one”

Her mother put down the pen that she still was holding and left it on the papers that she had been writing, and Rose frowned for a moment, for she hadn’t known that her mother knew Arabic. Following her gaze, Janine covered the letter with a folder and stood up, walking around her desk to be face to face with her daughter.

“The kind of system that you want is not easy to come by, it costs a lot of money to buy it because it cost a lot of money to make it” her voice was so monotone as she spoke that it made Rose’s blood boil.

“So you won’t do it” Rose nodded “And here I thought that maybe, just for once in your life, you’d be willing to help your daughter out” she turned around to leave, but she barely had walked two steps when her mother spoke.

“You could have helped your friend if you had graduated” Janine pointed out, and Rose could hear anger in her voice.

She closed her eyes for a moment. She knew that her mother hadn’t forgiven her for not wanting to make the exam that would have made her a guardian, like Mason and Eddie had done, even if she had spent years learning and training for it, but she also knew that she had never understood why she hadn’t wanted to do it, and Rose was not going to explain it to her, she had suffered enough explaining Lissa, and had almost cried when, without her saying anything, Christian had guessed the truth behind her actions. No, her mother was not one to understand, but Rose was not ready to give up so easily. Janine wanted a guardian? Then she’d have it.

“Will you help Sydney if I agree to be examined?”

The genuine surprise that decorated her mother’s features almost made Rose want to laugh. She had not been expecting Rose to take the upper hand on the matter, always used to controlling the situation, and Rose smiled. As much as she hated her sometimes, there was no denying they were mother and daughter. Janine nodded.

“I will. Immediately” she agreed.

“I’ll take the exam, then” Rose stated.

Janine moved behind her desk again, opening her laptop and typing quickly.

“I’m afraid is not that easy, Rose, you dropped out, now you need to be allowed to take the exam” she kept on typing and her daughter just stared at her. When she was done, Janine turned to Rose, her auburn locks falling on her face again “The order needs to come from the highest level of the agency. Thank God, the principal can receive you now”

That made Rose freeze, all her cockiness gone for a moment, but her mother didn’t seem to notice.

“I’ll call a friend as you talk to the headmaster, but I need Sydney’s address”

Giving a step forward, Rose took the pen that Janine was offering and wrote down _The Golden Lily_ ’s address. Her mother nodded at her and after she was told to go to the office at the end of the corridor, to the right, Rose walked out of there, closing the door behind her without making a sound, and taking a deep breath.

“This is going to be fun” she whispered to herself as she walked down the hall.

Knocking on the principal’s door, she waited, until his voice told her to come in. He didn’t see her, at first, his eyes focused on the computer screen, and Rose had to repress a smirk when she saw how good the grey shirt that he was wearing looked on him.

“Rosemarie Hathaway?” Dimitri asked with his eyes still on the screen and a shiver run up her spine at hearing her full name pronounced with that Russian accent of his.

“Indeed” she answered, and was delighted by the shock on his face when he, finally, looked up at her, after recognizing her voice.

Ignoring the burning look of his brown eyes, she walked closer and sat on a chair in front of him, at the opposite side of the desk. Recomposing himself, he looked back at the screen.

“Your curriculum is quite impressive” Dimitri congratulated her “and yet I don’t understand why you’d want to come back. You did leave”

Rose nodded, understanding that this was all business.

“I needed something from my mother, this was her price to help me get it” she shook her shoulders.

“I have a feeling you don’t need help to get what you want” he replied, making her smile.

“I don’t. But my back hurts and I didn’t feel like crawling through a ventilator shaft and lowering myself down into the level where you keep the security devices on a wire”

That made him laugh and she found herself thinking that he had a beautiful laugh.

“Which doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have done it” she added “I just didn’t feel like it”

Dimitri turned from her, looking back at the computer’s screen and typing something. Rose took her phone out of the jacket and tested Eddie, telling him that everything was sorted.

“Looking at your phone while talking to a superior? That’s disrespectful”

“Then fire me” she snapped back, putting the phone on her pocket.

He turned to her again, resting his hands on the table between them.

“You are not even working here yet, Rose” he smiled “Your exam will be on the 1st of September”

“Whatever you say, Comrade. Can I leave now?”

He nodded and she stood up, quite aware of his gaze following her, and got out of the room, knowing that staying there would do more harm than good. Taking her phone out again, and seeing that Eddie hadn’t answered her test, she called Sydney as she walked to the elevator.


	5. Shut up and dance

The weekend came faster than Rose would have wanted and, before she could even think about it, she found herself dressed on the beautiful black dress that she had bought the previous week and helping Lissa with the zipper of her green dress in order to go to Natalie’s party.

“I really think that I should do something with my hair” the blonde complained and Rose sighed, wondering how it was possible that Lissa didn’t see how beautiful she was with her hair down and loose on her shoulders.

“You are perfect” she replied “and your hair is fine”

Christian called for them and, after Rose had put her heels on, they walked down the stairs to meet him. He was wearing black jeans and a button up shirt that was a little opened on the upper side, and Rose wished she could go to the party dressed like he was, because putting that much effort on getting ready to go to a place where people didn’t really like her when all she wanted to do was to stay home wasn’t fun at all. But then again, her love for Lissa knew no boundaries, and if she had to spend the night listening to all those high class idiots, she would. As Christian looked at her, after greeting Lissa with a chaste kiss on the lips, she knew that he was of the same opinion.

Rose tossed her keys to Ozera and she sat on the passenger’s seat as Lissa moved to sit on the back side of the car, quickly fastening her belt.

“You will have to tell me one day how it is that you let Christian drive your car when you don’t even let Mason touch it” Lissa said, raising her brow, and Rose caught her eye on the rear-view mirror.

“Long story, princess” her boyfriend laughed “and not one Rose likes to share”

The brunette punched him in the arm as he put the keys on the contact to start the car.

“How come?” Lissa asked again.

Christian moved his head back to give her a wolfish grin.

“She is too proud to admit that she likes me”

“Shut up and drive, Ozera” Rose gave him a deadly glare as Lissa laughed.

The answer Christian was about to give Rose wasn’t pretty, so he decided not to say anything, knowing that whatever he said would interrupt Lissa’s laugh, and there was nothing in the world that he would hate more than to stop her happiness.

 

* * *

 

 

Christian turned the car to get into the Dashkov’s manor driveway.

“Here we are” he announced ceremoniously, but there was boredom in his voice.

To call the house a manor was an understatement because the place had always reminded Rose to a bloody castle, and it surely had been a long time ago, for the Dashkov’s had been royalty some centuries ago, and were now, behind Lissa, who was the last remaining member of what once had been House Dragomir, and the Ivashkov family, the richest family on the country.

Ozera sighed when he parked the car, looking at all the super expensive other cars that were on the driveway, not that his car was old and rusty, but it had nothing to do against all those Jaguar’s, Maserati’s, Lexus’ and Ferrari’s.

“Put away those sad faces” Lissa told them, leaning on Rose’s seat “We are going to have fun”

As they got out of the car, Christian’s eyes begged Rose for help, but she was not willing to suffer alone. The three of them started walking to the entrance of the manor, and Lissa waved to some people that Rose had never seen. When his girlfriend nocked on the door, Christian shook Rose’s arm.

“Have you seen that car?”

The brunette turned to look at the car and shook her shoulders.

“What? It’s just one of those luxury cars this spoiled kids like to drive”

“It’s an _excelero_ , MayBach’s most expensive car” he replied “Unbelievable”

“Didn’t know you were a fan of cars”

One of the Dashkov’s servants opened the door and as they walked in, Christian turned to Rose again.

“I’m not. I just find it amazing that those idiots spend their money like that”

She didn’t answer, but understood what he meant. Christian’s family also had money, probably more than Rose could ever count, but nor him nor his aunt Tasha liked to bluster about it. The only time Rose had seen the Ozera’s spending obscene amounts of money had been after a natural disaster in South America, when they had sent part of their fortune to different NGO’s in order to help those affected.

“Lissa! Rose!” Natalie Dashkov came towards them, making her way to the crowd as soon as she saw them walking into the manor’s ballroom, a wide smile on her pretty face.

It was probably the first time Rose had seen Natalie wear a skirt and, even if it didn’t look bad on her, the fact that she was also wearing sneakers took away all the beauty and magic from her outfit. Lissa kissed her affectively on the cheeks.

“I’m so glad you could make it” she told them and then looked at Christian with a raised brow.

“Natalie” Lissa took the lead “you remember my boyfriend, right?”

Her cousin nodded, finally smiling at him, and Christian managed a croked smile.

“Christian Ozera” he introduced himself, even if everyone there probably knew who he was, or at least had heard about his family’s tragic story, and she shook his hand.

“I’m going to greet other guests, but I’ll see you all around. Oh, and Mason and the others are somewhere around here, and so is Aaron, even if I don’t know if you are talking to him anymore because you, well, kind of dumped him…”

“It’s okay, Natalie” Rose cut her off, knowing that if she kept on talking she’d never stop “You can go. We’ll be fine”

She smiled at them one more time and then left, waving and calling for Avery Lazar and laughing loudly. Christian turned to look at Lissa with the eyes with whom a scared deer would look at someone who could save it from a hunter and Rose rolled her eyes.

“Come on, we’ll survive. But let’s find some drinks ‘cause if we are suddenly going to bump into Aaron Drozdov and his friends I’m gonna need booze”

“Don’t be dramatic” Lissa smiled at her, lacing her fingers with her boyfriend’s “It’s me he hates, not you. And knowing him he’d probably ignore us”

Even if she seemed optimistic, her smile faded a little, and that hurt Rose more than any insult could. Almost as she had read her mind, Christian kissed Lissa’s cheek and, when Lissa moved to peck his lips, Rose looked away but smiled. They found Mason and Eddie a couple of minutes later, after managing to escape from Camille Conta, who started asking questions about why Lissa know lived all alone in a little house. Rose would have never called Lissa’s house little but it looked like those rich bastards considered it a dog’s house. They were both standing close to a catering table and had glasses of champagne in their hands.

“Christian Ozera coming to a party, now I can say I’ve seen it all” Mason laughed, kissing Rose’s cheek.

“I’ve been to parties, Ashford” Christian replied “And this doesn’t look like one”

As Lissa and Christian talked with Mason, Eddie handed Rose a glass of champagne and took her arm to move away from their friends, his hazel eyes staring into hers, giving her a dark glare.

“How did you do it?” he asked, and Rose didn’t need to be told what he was talking about.

“I asked my mother for a favor and we managed to make a deal” she simply answered and Eddie raised his brow, waiting for her to continue. In the end, Rose sighed “I’m going to take the final exam”

He stood in shock for a moment but then nodded and laughed.

“Does Lissa know?” he asked “Does Mason?”

“I told Lissa and Christian yesterday after we had dinner” she informed “Ozera wouldn’t stop laughing, but I know that deep down he is scared me. And, I mean, he should be, we all know I always was the best recruit St. Anna had. Lissa didn’t like it because she thought I wouldn’t be happy, but she understood that I did it for Sydney”

Eddie seemed surprised and remained silent for a moment, as Rose finished the champagne glass.

“Mase!” he called then, making the brunette laugh as they walked back to where their friends stood “Guess who’s coming back to the fold”

Mason’s eyes moved from Eddie to Rose before they settled on the later.

“No” he managed and then laughed “You think you can just come back and be better than all of us? You wish, Rosie”

“I was born better than all of you” she replied, moving her hair back “Now I’m just going to make it official”

Mason was going to answer her but was interrupted by Lissa’s laugh, and decided to just smile at Rose, drinking another sip from his cup.

“Wait” Eddie put his hand on Rose’s bare shoulder after a moment of silence “That means you met the boss”

A shiver ran up Rose’s spine at his words. Oh, yeah, she had met their boss, and she had also danced so close to him that his cologne had remained on her hair until the next morning. For a moment she hoped she had stayed for longer in his office, even if she was not sure of what she could expect of someone she barely knew who was also older than her and the lead of the organization that she worked for, because she knew deep inside that he had felt the connection that was between them the moment they met, as she had.

“You know who it is?” Mason asked, visibly eager to know because those who held the most basic jobs at the agency didn’t really get to meet those who held the high ones.

“I do” she nodded and she could have sworn that she felt Christian’s iced cold eyes burning on her side as he looked at her.

Eddie was about to ask her who it was, but didn’t have the time, because a petite blond girl who wore a baby blue dress that made her look like a child approached them with a smile of sufficiency. Rose recognized her as the girl who had crashed against her on the mall.

“So it is true” she laughed, addressing Lissa, and suddenly Rose had moved from Eddie’s side to walk closer to Lissa, almost shielding her, as Christian stood at his girlfriend’s right side “the princess is back. I had heard that you were interned on a mental institution, you know? Because you were mad”

“Who are you?” Lissa managed, and the question seemed to anger the girl.

“Mia Rinaldi” she smiled “I’m Aaron’s girlfriend”

“Wow” Rose interrupted, taking her attention away from Lissa “and I thought Aaron couldn’t fall any lower”

Mia’s lower lip trembled as she looked at her.

“Brave words from Rose Hathaway. I wonder why you are still her friend. I mean, you always have her back but everyone knows that she is the reason why you died” she laughed and before Rose could stop herself she was standing right between her friend and the blonde bitch, her fists clenched “I’m right, am I not? Rumor has it, after all, that she caused the car accident because she didn’t know of a better way to focus everyone’s attention on her”

Behind Rose, Lissa let out a little sob.

“You back off right now…” Christian started, giving a step forward, but never got to finish the sentence because Rose was faster than him.

Her fist collided with Mia’s face with such a strength that her knuckles protested, not that she cared, and the blond fall to the floor with a scream, her hands reaching for her face, which was covered in the blood that came out of her broken nose. Even between cries, she managed to insult Rose and tell her that she was going to regret it, but the brunette was no longer listening. She felt Lissa taking her arm and remembered walking away from the crowd that had formed around them but, suddenly, she was no longer there.

_The lights were bright when they hit her eyes and she heard the crash before she felt it._

“Rose” someone called, but she didn’t know whose voice it was.

Christian held her by the waist, positively sure that if he let go of her she would fall to the ground, and managed to give her outside, helping her to sit on the stone staircase that lead to the house, making sure they were away from prying eyes.

_She could feel the cold running through her veins and as much as she wanted to open her eyes there was a dark shadow looming over her, claiming her._

“Come on, ghost girl, come back”

Suddenly, she grabbed his hand.

“Ozera” she smiled.

His blue eyes burned her and it was obvious that he was worried. Looking around them, Rose asked “Where is Lissa?”

“Mason and Eddie are with her. She is fine. Worried about you, surely, but I told her you were just dizzy. Guessed you still hadn’t told her”

She shook her head.

“I haven’t. Thank you”

Christian gave her a crooked smile.

“Careful there or you’ll end up falling for me, Rose”

Rose laughed at him and hugged herself.

“You wish, Pyro. Go back inside and check on Liss. I’ll be fine”

He nodded and stood, but before he could go back inside Rose called for him again and he had to turn to look at her.

“If that bitch dares to talk to her again, burn her ass”

“Consider it done” Christian promised and once he was gone Rose put her head between her hands.

It had been a while since she had had one of those flashes, and it surely had been triggered by what that little Barbie-wanna-be had said, but what she hated the most was that Lissa had been present. She had never wanted to worry her best friend with her nightmares because Lissa have had enough trouble handling her own problems, and even if that lied burned her, she still didn’t have the courage to tell her. Christian knew, of course, because he had been present when she had almost jumped out of a balcony on a crappy motel while she had been sleepwalking, and he had been the one to grab her and save her. Rose Hathaway owing her life to Christian Ozera…it almost sounded like the beginning of a bad joke.

It was then when she noticed that there was a thick scent around her, both spicy and sweet. There was something familiar about it, but before she could identify it, a voice came from behind her, startling her, even if she didn’t let it show.

“Hello, little warrior”

It was then when she realized that there was a guy leaned against the wall of the manor. As Rose stood and gave a couple of steps to his direction, her left hand rubbing her right hand because it was still aching from punching Mia, he brought a cigarette up to his mouth and took a long drag, giving her a crooked smile. It was the scent of clove cigarettes what she had smelt.

Rose crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him. He wore a long, charcoal coat, probably made out of some insanely expensive cashmere-wool blend, fit his body exceptionally well, and the leather dress shoes he wore indicated that he was surely insanely rich. He had brown hair that looked like it had been purposely styled to appear a little unkempt, but, due to the light, she couldn't quite see the colour of his eyes. His face was cute and Rose guessed that he was a couple years older than her.

“Yeah?”

“Just felt like saying hi” he shook his shoulders and then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered it to her. He had moved only one step closer, but it was enough for her to smell the scent of alcohol of him. Rose shook her head at the cigarettes.

“Those are bad, you know?”

“Bad things are the best things in life” he replied, smirking “I saw your hook in there. Not sure of what that girl said, though, but I guessed she had it coming”

“Like hell she did” Rose smiled too.

He exhaled smoke.

"How long until you graduate?" he asked "I might need a guardian"

“Sorry, guy-I-just-met, I’m already taken”

He almost looked disappointed, and she watched him exhale again.

“Really? Who is he?”

“She’s Vasilisa Dragomir”

Hi grinned widely at her.

“I knew you were trouble as soon as I saw you fighting with that blonde girl in there. You are Janine Hathaway’s daughter”

That pissed her off. She had spent most of her life trying to make a name for herself and she hated when people only knew her because of her mother’s reputation.

“I am Rose Hathaway”

He moved the cigarette to his left hand and offered her his right one.

“Adrian Ivashkov. Nice to meet you”

Rose shook his hand with a laugh and was surprised by the tenderness with which his fingers caressed her now bruised knuckles.

“And you said I was trouble” she had finally understood why he looked so arrogant, the Ivashkovs were, after all, one of the wealthiest and most powerful families around there. They were the kind of people who thought they could get anything they wanted and walked over those in their way.

“Yeah, well, tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are. I guess our reputations precedes us”

“Don’t think you know me. You don’t. Just like I don’t know you”

“Do you want to know me?” he asked tauntingly.

Rose rolled her eyes and hugged herself. The night was getting cold and she had no jacket.

“Not interested. Plus, your bloody cigarettes are giving me a headache, so I think I’ll go back inside”

“Some women think they make me look sexy” Adrian drew in on the cigarette and let out the smoke, making sure it didn’t hit her.

“You probably smoke so you have time to think about your next witty comeback”

She felt proud when he choked on the smoke, caught between inhaling and laughing.

“Rose Hathaway, you are devastating” he moved his hand to his chest, almost as if his heart was heart.

“Aye, I am. You should start fearing for your life” she turned around a smile still dancing on her lips “Goodnight, Adrian”

“I’ll see you soon” he promised and Rose thought about turning again, but she didn’t, instead, right before walking inside the manor, she said “You wish” and when she walked in she could still hear his laugh behind her.


	6. I know what you did last summer

_One year ago_

* * *

 

_The Dashkov's summer manor was on the Hamptons, which meant that, to give Lissa the biggest surprise of her life, Christian and Rose had to share a car and spend 24/7 together for almost a week, because fair Montana was quite far away from New York. To say that neither of them looked forward to it would have been an understatement and Rose really wondered why the hell Ozera wouldn't buy them both a couple of plane tickets to make the whole thing easier, but didn't bother asking, knowing that he'd dodge the question, as he always did when she talked about his family's money._

_So, they headed off to the adventure and spent the following days crossing the country, stopping to sleep on motels when they found one or sleeping on the car when they didn't. And during those days Christian found out that Rose was a crappy singer but still loved to sing along with the songs he'd put on the car, even when she didn't know the lyrics of them, which only made it worse. But in the end he got used to it, just like she got used to his silences, even if, after three days, he joined her at times and sang along too._

_They were staying on a crappy hotel outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first time they had a real issue. They have had to pretend to be siblings so the old lady that owned the place allowed them to sleep there, and she had gave them a room with two beds. Christian woke up on the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and noticed that Rose was muttering on her sleep and tossing around in bed but didn't pay it much attention because it wasn't the first time it had happened. When he walked out of the bathroom, though, he was certain she was mocking him._

_"_ _Rose?" he called for her, as she stood from the bed, her brunette locks falling wildly around her face and down her back. She didn't pay him much attention and started walking. He noticed then that she was not mocking him, as she was still muttering under her breath, almost as if she was talking to someone, and realized she was still asleep. When he tried to take her hand, she turned around, almost furiously, and punched him hard in the face, making him lose his balance and almost threw him to the floor. Rubbing his cheek, he called for her again "Rose, wake up"_

_But his friend didn't seem to notice his presence anymore, and kept on walking. It took him a moment to see that she was walking straight to the balcony and he rushed towards her, grabbing her waist as she clutched to the railing. She kicked at him, moving like a fish out of the water, trying to slip from his gasp._

_"_ _Let me go" she spat "I need to help them. They are screaming, can't you hear? I have to help them. Let me go!"_

_Christian had to use all of his strength to walk backwards and pushed her back inside the room. Rose fell to the floor and, suddenly, she was pushing her palms strongly at her temples._

_"_ _They are calling. They are screaming" she whispered, and Ozera could see that her eyes were still firmly closed._

_He knelt before her and grabbed her forearms, calling her name and telling her to wake up. After what felt like an eternity, Rose's hazel eyes flew open, and she stared into his iced blue ones with confusion._

_"_ _What happened?" she whispered and, surprising himself more than he surprised her, Christian pulled her for an embrace before helping her get back to the bed and telling her what he had just witnessed with a worried voice. When he was done explaining, Rose's gaze had darkened._

 

* * *

_Nowadays_

* * *

 

Rose Hathaway didn't usually get drunk, but when she did, her hangovers were epic, and that's why, the morning after Natalie's party, she woke up with half of her body hanging from Lissa's bed and a terrible headache. Groaning, she stirred, only to find that there was no one else in the room. When she stood up, holding to the bed's headboard in order to keep herself steady, she searched for a nightgown on Lissa's wardrobe and putting on, seeing that she had sleep with only her panties on, her dress laying on the bedroom's floor where she had left it the previous night. She headed downstairs after that, one hand firmly holding the staircase's railing and the other rubbing at her temples.

Christian was passed out on the couch and Lissa smiled at Rose when her friend walked into the kitchen, quickly moving to offer her an aspiring and a glass of water.

"Are you alright?" the blonde asked and Rose nodded after taking the aspiring.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Will be even better when the room stops moving" resting her elbows on the table, she put her face between her hands, groaning.

"I told you not to drink that much" Lissa reminded her, leaning to kiss the top of her head.

Looking up at her friend, Rose couldn't hold back a smile as Lissa finished her coffee and stood to serve Rose her own cup.

"Would you prepare another cup for me, princess?" Christian's sleepy voice reached them from the couch.

When he walked inside the kitchen he was taking of his jacket, having fallen asleep with his suit still on the night before, and gave his girlfriend a sweet kiss on the forehead when she handed her his coffee.

"Food" Rose muttered, walking next to them and to one of the cupboards "Bagels!" she exclaimed triumphantly, grabbing the bag and takin a couple of them.

"Hey, hand one over" Ozera demanded, and she gave him the bag, one bagel on her mouth and the other on her hand, as she walked back to the kitchen table.

They were interrupted by Lissa's phone and the blonde moved to pick it up from the counter.

"Hey, Mason." She greeted their friend "No, Rose can't talk right now, she is having breakfast. Yeah. No, I had no idea. Wait." She turned to Rose "Mason says you were supposed to meet him and Eddie at St. Anna's half an hour ago"

Rose cursed, swallowing her food.

"Crap. I forgot. Tell them to go inside, I'll meet then at the gym as soon as I can"

"You heard that?" Lissa focused on Mason again "Yeah? Fine. You're welcome. Bye, Mason"

Christian looked at Rose like she was mad.

"You agreed to go training after spending the night drinking? You really are crazy"

"If I did, I don't really recall, Ozera, so shut it." She rubbed at her temples "God, I should really stop drinking"

She finished what was left of her breakfast quickly before going up to the bathroom to take a shower. The water helped to awake her, but she still felt like crap, and knew that Mason and Eddie would kick her ass if she trained with them while she felt like she had been hit by a truck. After staring at her clothes for the best part of two minutes she decided to put on a pair of comfortable grey sweatpants and an old faded t-shirt from a Stones' concert that she had bought years before on a jumble sale before preparing her sport's bag with clothes to change herself and a towel, so she could also shower after training.

"Hey, Liss!" Rose called her friend "I thought I had a pair of trainers here"

"Don't think so." Lissa replied, raising her voice so Rose could hear it "But I must have something on the wardrobe"

It still surprised Rose that her friend didn't practice any sort of sports and had a body like a model's, not that she envied her for she was more than happy with all her curves. She was even more surprised when she found a pair of pink trainers that were yet to be used, even if Rose were sure they were old because Lissa did not have the same shoe size as she did anymore, but those fit her perfectly. Christian and Lissa informed that they were going out for the day and Rose thought that maybe she should go round her house later even it was just to let her mother know that she was still alive. When she put her bag on the passenger's side Mason called her again. Sending his best friend a text to say that she was on her way before leaving the phone on the bag, she started the car.

 

* * *

_One year ago_

* * *

 

 _"_ _You need to talk about it, Rose." Christian insisted._

_He was driving that time, and she was sitting on the passenger's seat drinking a diet coke and looking out the window without paying him much attention. She hadn't talked to him all morning, not even when they'd gotten inside the car, barely nodding or shaking her head when Christian addressed her, and even if he knew that she surely needed time to recover from whatever nightmare she had had the previous night that had caused her to sleepwalk and have such violent reactions, he was also worried, and was getting tired of being ignored._

_"_ _I don't remember what I dreamt, Ozera." She spat back, still not looking at him._

 _"_ _You were saying you had to help someone." He tried again, moving his eyes from the rode to her for a moment "Was it about Lissa?"_

_Taking a long sip from her can, Rose finally turned to look at him. She sighed._

_"_ _I don't know. Maybe. Nothing like that had ever happened before"_

 _"_ _I don't believe you." He replied "When you came back to your senses and I told you what had happened you looked terrified. You do know"_

_She didn't answer, resuming looking out of the window and drinking, which made him tighten his grip on the wheel. But Christian didn't push it. After all, he knew better than anyone what it was to keep secrets so deep inside of your mind that they'd eat you form the inside out every time you'd close your eyes, he'd done it ever since his parents had been caught and murdered by the police._

_"_ _Lissa will worry if you tell her." Rose noted after a moment of silence and Christian couldn't hold back a smirk._

 _"_ _You know you are a bitch, right, Hathaway?" His tone was playful "It would do no good to worry her" He nodded and, after a moment of silence he added "You can trust me with it…and if you ever need any help, well, you have my number."_

_Turning to look at him she wondered when she had started to allow herself to smile kindly at Christian Ozera and when she had started to think of him as a friend._

 

* * *

_Nowadays_

* * *

 

"There she is." Mason exclaimed when Rose walked through the door. "The Rose Hathaway in the flesh."

She had left her bag on a locker before walking into the gym and had her hair on a ponytail. As she approached Mason, she saw Neal lifting some weighs but didn't bother smiling at him because they really didn't know each other that much.

"Quit laughing about me, Mase." She warned him. "Or I may kick your ass"

"How about instead of playing to see who has the best comebacks we go to one of the training rooms and you see who can kick whose ass." Eddie suggested, cleaning the sweat from his neck with a towel.

Rose turned her brown eyes to Mason again and gave him a challenging grin. Her friend didn't seem afraid of her and returned the smile.

"Let's do that, shall we?" He nodded. "I'll finally get to pay you back for all those times you made me bite the dust."

The three of them got out of the gym and walked down the corridor as Eddie informed Rose that the girl she had punched the night before had apparently reported her, but he had managed to hack into the system and erased the report before anyone could see it. Good perks of working for the company that controlled the police.

"You know we are supposed to protect people and defend the law, right?" Mason reminded him but Eddie just shook his shoulders.

"Okay, get ready both of you." Eddie clasped his hands as Rose and Mason placed themselves on the centre of the room, both of them taking defensive positions. "Begin."

"Prepare to cry." Mason laughed and, without answering, Rose launched forward, trying to kick Mason's face, but he was expecting it and blocked the attack.

They went on for a while, kicking and punching and trying not to get knock down while Eddie cheered them. Rose had forgotten how hard it was to keep up with that fight, and with the time that had passed since she last had proper training, her body complained after a while, but she was not about to tell that to Mason. She was too proud to lose against her friend. And yet, she lost. Mason smiled down at her as she laid on the floor.

"You really have been away for long"

She stick out her tongue.

"That was sloppy, Hathaway" a voice informed, and it wasn't Eddie's.

Mason helped Rose stand up by offering her his hand and she watched, amused, as Eddie gave a little jump, not having noticed the other person that had joined them in the room.

"Sir?" Mason muttered and Rose knew, as his eyes opened widely, that he must have guessed who Dimitri was.

"Ashford." Dimitri replied, his face so stoic that Rose wondered how it was possible for her to have seen any emotion on it at all. "Castile." He added then, turning to Eddie "You both can take your leave. I'd like to speak with Miss Hathaway"

The boys shared a look but nodded.

"We'll be at the gym." Eddie said right before they left the training room, using his serious voice, and letting Rose know that they'd be close by should she need something.

Once they were gone, Dimitri turned back to her, giving a few steps on her direction.

"You won't pass the exam fighting like a five year old little child." He noted and Rose felt offended. And, above anything else, she felt angry at the tone he was using.

Without waiting for him to say anything else and without giving him an answer, she moved to punch him. And failed. Dimitri blocked her punch easily, and that only angered her more. When she tried to kick him, he stopped her by grabbing her ankle, and she lost concentration when his hand moved up her ankle and to her thigh. She should have paid more attention, because he used that move to make her lose balance and fall to the floor.

As Rose looked at him with surprise on her features, Dimitri shook his head with disappointment.

"I expected more from you." He said and turned on his heels to leave, but she stood up almost as quickly as she had fallen, and put herself between him and the door.

"You don't give a crap about my exam, do you?" She spat. "No, why would you? You don't even give a crap about me"

She had thought that he did, that they had connected that night at _The Golden Lily,_ but she guessed then that she had gotten it all wrong. Shaking her head, she turned around, determined to go before he did. Dimitri grabbed her forearm and gently pushed her back to him.

"That's what you think? I don't care about you?" He hadn't let go of her arm and Rose wasn't aware they were walking backwards until her back hit the wall next to the door. "Don't tell me what I'm feeling."

It was then when she saw it, a glitter inside his brown eyes that gave him away. And she understood that he wasn't always as calmed and as emotionless as he had tried to make her believe.

"So that's why you were behaving like a jerk. Because you want to pretend you have control."

He made a face.

"I have control"

"Maybe." She nodded, biting her lip, knowing that what she wanted to do was probably insane "But I think you don't want to"

"Roza…"

Rose knew it was wrong, but she didn't want to control herself, not at that moment and certainly not when he was speaking at her in Russian. And before he realized what was happening she had stood on her tiptoes and had kissed him. Their lips met, and the hand that had been resting on Rose's forearm moved up her arm and ended up placed on the back of her neck, and he kissed her back. And the moment Rose felt him answering to the kiss, _deepening it_ , she knew she was right to feel how she felt. He pressed himself closer, trapping her between him and the wall. His free hand moved to rest on her waist, but his other one slide into her hair, undoing her ponytail and tanging his fingers in her hair. Rose moaned in his mouth from the intensity of it all. He was the one to break the kiss, jerking away from her and taking some steps back, looking shaken.

"You can't do that again." He said, pressing his lips together.

"Don't kiss me back then." She replied, still catching her breath.

He muttered something in Russian under his breath, closing his eyes for a moment, and then turned and left without even looking at her.


	7. Pyro

Christian invited Lissa to the cinema and they had dinner at a restaurant before going back home. Ozera would have sent Rose a text to tell her not to appear at Lissa's place because he wanted to be alone with his girlfriend, but he didn't because he assumed Hathaway would be staying at hers. He was wrong, and rolled his eyes at her when they got home to find her lying on the couch, wearing the clothes she had taken to change herself at St. Anna's and watching TV.

"Hey." She greeted them. "You are late"

"Don't you have a house, Rose?" Christian asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, you wanted to be…alone." She smiled and Lissa looked at her shaking her head. "Fine, I'll go home." Standing up from the couch she kissed Lissa's cheek. "Call me." and turning to Christian again she smiled. "It's good that at least someone is having fun."

Her tone made Lissa frown but, as her friend left her boyfriend and her alone, she didn't think about it.

"She can be a pain in the ass." Christian pointed out, his hands moving to rest on Lissa's waist. "But I guess life wouldn't be the same without her around here."

His girlfriend laughed, her green eyes moving up to meet his iced blue ones, and her hand rising to cup his cheek.

"You two are really alike." She noted.

"The only thing we have in common is our love for you." He replied, before leaning forward and pressing his lips against hers.

There was not much talk after that. They walked to her room between touches and kisses, and by the time they reached the bed, Lissa's dress was gone, and Christian started kissing his way down her neck, smiling at the giggles that came out of her mouth.

* * *

As she walked down the street, Sydney almost dropped the box of cupcakes she was carrying on her left hand as she struggled to make sure her bag didn't fall from her opposite shoulder while holding a cup of coffee on her right hand. She had had to park her Beatle some blocks away, because it had been impossible for her to find any free place next to the Hathaway home, which angered her, because it was late at night –she had just closed the bar-, and she didn't like to wander the streets on her own at such hours.

She had to knock on Rose's door several times before her friend came to open, and when she did, Sydney rolled her eyes at the sight before her. Rose was wearing a combination of black sports-bra and leggings, and had her dark hair pulled up on a ponytail, sweat running down her face.

"It's three in the morning, Rose, are you really training?" She laughed as her friend let her into her house.

"Couldn't sleep." The brunette shook her shoulders as they walked into her living room, and quickly moved to turn off the music she had been listening to. "So, what brings you here?"

Handing her the box of cupcakes, Sydney gave her a smiled.

"I wanted to say thank you."

Rose took the box and her eyes opened widely when she saw the cupcakes that were inside it, each of them with a different kind of frosting.

"God, I adore you, Syd." She smiled, walking to the kitchen to put them on the fridge, determined to eat them for breakfast.

"I should get going." Her friend told her, talking a sip of the coffee she had on her hand.

Rose stopped her when she made to leave, concerned written on her face.

"You sure you don't want to stay? There's no one home and I have two spare rooms."

Sydney shook her head, but Rose hadn't expected any less. They had known each other for over a year, and even if there were many things that Rose didn't know about her –She had always been more open with Eddie –, she had learnt a while ago that she didn't like to rely on others or to look like she needed help, unless she really did.

"My car is down the street, don't worry. I'll be fine."

Rose didn't insist, walking her to the door and waving at her as her friend walked down the street before going back to the living room and turning the music on again. As she started doing push ups, she tried to convince herself once again that she was only worried of not being in shape because of her own ego and self-steam and because Mason had never before been able to kick her ass as he had the previous morning, but deep down she knew that what had hurt her most had been to hear that she was not fit for the job. Dimitri had all but challenged her to be better, and Hathaways never said no to a challenge. Plus, Rose thought, she was determined to kick his ass next time she fought him, even if it was only because of how he had reacted to her kiss. She knew of course that the situation was tricky, with him being the CEO of St. Anna and all that, but there was a part of her that didn't want to give a damn about that.

When she took a break to drink some water her clock told her it was already seven in the morning, and knowing that, high of caffeine as she was, there was no way she was going to sleep, she decided to take a shower. When she walked out of the bathroom after drying and combing her hair, she decided to drink one last cup of coffee and then threw on a clean pair of leggings and a white shirt before putting on her trainers, grabbing a jumper, and walking out of the house. She saw the sun coming out as she drove to St. Anna's.

* * *

"You are going to end up blind if you keep staring at that screen." His sister's voice reached him as she walked into his office and Dimitri moved his gaze away from his computer and to her.

He had been reading all the data the agency possessed about Rose Hathaway, still not understanding why a girl who had passed all of her tests with such remarkable marks would have dropped off so suddenly. He knew that the best way to learn would be to ask her, but couldn't bring himself to do so seeing how poorly he had been able to hold himself together the last time he had been alone with her. Had she never asked to be back at St. Anna, things may have gone different, even if he now knew that there was a relevant age gap between them that could have made things complicated, seeing as he was 27 and she was 20. But if she had never requested to go back to being a trainee, she would have remained being a beautiful girl he had once seen on a lift and with whom he'd had a great time at a bar, but now she was technically one of his employees, or at least she would be once she officially finished her studies, and he knew that he couldn't get close to her anymore.

"Well, someone has to work seeing that you won't." He smiled at Karolina, who rolled her eyes at him.

He was teasing her, of course, for he knew that his sister was only late because she had spent the night awake due to Zoya's cries. The two year old child was sick and had had a rough night.

"How's my niece?" Dimitri asked her.

"She was better when I left her with the babysitter and Paul had finally managed to sleep something, thank heaven. He kept asking for his _dyadya_ to take him out, though."

Dimitri sighed, giving his sister a hard stare. He hated not to be able to spend as much time with his family as he wanted due to his work and more than once a day he regretted to have agreed to take the job.

"I will spend some time with him soon. I promise." He assured her and Karolina nodded, turning away to leave. When she reached the door, though, she turned around and asked. "By the way, would you care to explain what the pretty girl from _The Golden Lily_ is doing in our gym?"

Not looking directly at her and making sure his voice didn't flinch or tremble he answered. "She is one of the trainees."

"Oh, Dimka." Karolina laughed but walked out of the room without adding anything else, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

* * *

_One year ago_

* * *

_"_ _You sure you are alright?" Rose asked Lissa as her best friend all but drowned a whole bottle of water._

_They had been swimming in the outdoors pool of Victor Dashkov's manor, and while Rose had excelled at it, Lissa hadn't seemed to be doing well at all. It hadn't been long before she run into the house looking for some refreshment, and Rose had followed her, wanting to make sure she didn't faint, and not willing to stay alone outside with Natalie._

_"_ _Yeah." Lissa smiled, her face red due to the burning sun. "I hate getting tired so easily. And I'm never getting a tan."_

_Rose smiled kindly at her. Unlike Lissa, who sometimes reminded her of a vampire, she didn't need to get a tan. Her father, whomever he had been, had made sure to give her some genes that ensured her perfect dark hair, stunning brown eyes, and a skin that made her look like Princess Jasmine from Aladdin._

_"_ _You don't need a tan, Liss, you are perfect." Rose assured her and Lissa smiled but Natalie walked in before she could answer, drops of water falling down her body and to the floor, making little pools on it like Rose had. Not that they cared._

_"_ _Hey, Lissa." She smiled, her emerald eyes bright with emotion. "Dad's outside, he's asking for you."_

_Grabbing another bottle from the fridge, Lissa nodded._

_"_ _I'll go right now." She smiled brightly at her and turned to her best friend before following Natalie outside. "Would you mind going to look for Christian? I think he's hiding in his room."_

_"_ _He better. Natalie's friends don't like him at all."_

_Lissa rolled her eyes._

_"_ _They don't like us either but the house is big, we don't need to talk to them."_

_"_ _Fine. I'm on it." Hathaway raised her hands in surrender. "But if I find out that he's been watching Netflix while I was forced to endure Natalie talking about how her papa is going to buy her a thousand cats, I swear to God."_

_Her friend just laughed before exiting the house again and Rose sighed, walking further inside the manor and reaching the staircase. Natalie had arranged their room's to be on the same corridor as hers, one next to the other, on the third floor, and Rose cursed her in silence when she reached the top of the stairs, because she had spent enough time without exercising for a thing as simple as walking up the stairs to tire her. She was so focused on pushing her wet hair away from her face that she didn't see them approaching her until they spoke, and by that time they were close, too close._

_"_ _What a sight for sore eyes." Jessie Zeklos smirked at her, moving his hand through his dirty blonde hair._

_"_ _Hello, Rose." Greeted Ralf Sarcozy, Jesse's best friend and sidekick, standing right next to his friend. Blocking the corridor, Rose noticed._

_She rolled her eyes at him, determined not to be startled by them._

_"_ _They are opening the door for the scum now, I see." She spat at them, dimly aware as their eyes moved through her body that she was still wearing nothing but her bikini._

_"_ _Bad form, Hathaway, that's no way for a lady to speak." Jesse complained, his eyes brightening, and Rose wondered how she had once found him attractive._

_"_ _Get the hell out of my way, Zeklos, or I show you both what this_ lady _can do."_

_Jesse laughed and Rose moved to stand sideways, ready for any kind of attack, and Ralf raised an eyebrow at her. She was certain she could take them. She was certain she could have, at least, but it had been a long time since she had fought anyone. As she had imagined, they moved forward, and her fist collided with Ralf's throat, depriving him from oxygen and making him fall back. Jesse doubted._

_"_ _Did you not hear her?" Christian asked standing behind them, smiling at Rose from across the corridor. "Fuck off."_

_"_ _You fuck off, Ozera. You think I'm afraid of you?" Jessie replied, and Ralf straightened himself, even if he said nothing, still not being able to breathe properly._

_"_ _I think if you don't leave now you will both lose something more than just your pride and the Dashkov's will have to call an ambulance to take you back home." Ozera shook his shoulders. "And once Rose is done breaking every bone in your body, we will both go have a few laughs about how you are nothing but scared little pigs who don't know how to treat a woman."_

_Surprised, Rose raised an eyebrow at him, half angry at him for praising her in front of others while he didn't in private and half thankful because she knew he meant every word he was saying. Christian just gave her a crocked smile._

_"_ _So, that's it." Jessie laughed, looking at Rose. "You are fucking him, whore? Does Lissa know?"_

_And Rose snapped. One moment she was standing at a safe distance from Jesse and the next was right in front of him, her knee easily finding its way between his legs, hitting hard and making him shrink and fall down. Before he reached the floor, though, Rose grabbed his hair and pushed him back, making him hit his head with the railing. Jesse groaned and protested and Ralf moved, as though he wanted to help him, but Christian pushed him away from Rose, and for a moment Rose's heart skipped, as she saw how Ralf hit the railing and struggled to hold onto it, aware of the empty space behind it. As Ralf steadied himself, Rose wondered if Christian knew that he had almost made a man fall from a third floor. A part of her also wondered if he cared, as she saw the burning rage inside her friend's iced blue eyes._

_"_ _Now." She told the two friends. "Are you gonna leave or should I make my statement even more clear?"_

_They left, not even looking at them twice, and running down the corridor as though the devil itself was after them. And Rose turned to Ozera again. He just shook his shoulders, like they hadn't just gotten into a fight._

_"_ _You are nice." She blurted out before she could stop herself, surprise decorating her features._

_Christian laughed as they started walking down the staircase._

_"_ _I thought I was a pain in the ass." He replied and she nodded in agreement._

_"_ _Sadly for us both, I guess you are my pain in the ass for now."_

_Rose made a face at him, but deep down, they both knew that she was happy she had him on her corner, and that she would be at his if needed be. It was curious, Rose thought as they finally managed to get to the lowest floor and walked out to the garden, how Lissa had managed to unite them._

* * *

Rose felt like dying by the time she left St. Anna and promised herself that she would never _ever_ go training after not getting enough, _if any_ , sleep. Truth be told, she would have stayed longer, or would have waited for Mason or Eddie to arrive at least, even if she wasn't sure that her friends would be out of duty that day, if Karolina Belikova hadn't been lurking around. She hadn't noticed that Dimitri's sister was at the gym at first, not until she had heard some of the youngest trainees whispering as she walked around. It was no wonder why they were so struck by the Russian's presence, because even as she wore some loose sweatpants and a tank top, she looked stunning. Rose wondered how that was even possible. She also wondered how her braid managed to stay perfect and in place as she worked out. Rose had noticed she had been staring when Karolina turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow, and she had had to look away quickly. She could have sworn that she heard Dimitri's sister giggle, but then again, she couldn't be sure. The whole situation was enough to make her uncomfortable, especially since she didn't know if Karolina was looking at her because she remembered her from the _Golden Lily_ or because Dimitri had told her about their kiss.

_Get a grip, Rose._ A voice screamed in the back of her mind and, as she turned her car to enter Lissa's street, she decided that she'd figure things out some other time. She parked in front of the house and walked out leaving her sport's bag inside the car.

"Hey, Liss." She greeted as soon as she walked into the house, closing the front door behind her.

As soon as she walked into the living room, though, she froze. Lissa was sitting on the couch, drinking from a cup of tea and laughing, her vaporous blue dress making her look like a golden mermaid, and next to her, Adrian Ivashkov turned to look at Rose as she stopped under the doorframe. His brown hair still looked unkept and his clothes still gave away his station, even if this time, instead of the long coat he had worn outside the Dashkov manor, he wore nothing but a dark pair of jeans and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Some of its buttons were unbuttoned, revealing the skin of his chest.

"Hello again, little warrior." He gave her a smile so bright it could have made the sun above feel self-conscious.

"You already know each other?" Lissa asked, looking from Adrian to Rose, her emerald eyes asking her friend a silent question and Rose nodded.

"Yeah, we met at Natalie's party." She nodded, finally taking her eyes from the smirking Ivashkov and to her best friend. "What the hell is he doing here anyway?"

* * *

_One year ago_

* * *

_Rose didn't see Jesse or Ralf again until the day they left, almost a week after the incident with them. Lissa had been surprised to hear that they had gone after Rose when Christian and she had told her but, surprisingly because she was against any kind of violence, she was proud that they had defend themselves and one another._

_The three of them were having lunch with Natalie and her father on the garden, under an awning to protect them from the sun, and Natalie was telling them about how she was going to start working at a fashion company that fall, just for fun of course because she didn't really need to work, but she wanted to learn everything she could about that world, when they heard the explosion, and turned in alarm, as a cloud of fire and smoke rose to the skies from the front side of the house._

_"_ _Dear lord!" Natalie exclaimed._

_"_ _What was that?" Lissa's hands found Christian's and he put his arms around her as all of them stood and all but run to see what had happened._

_When they reached the front gate, they found that there was a car burning at the entrance, and not far away from it, Jesse, Ralf, and some of the members of the stuff, backed away from it quickly, horror painted on their faces._

_"_ _What happened?" Victor Dashkov demanded, and one of his guardians approached him so he could not walk closer to the burning car._

_"_ _We don't now, sir. It just exploded. If the boys had been anywhere closer to it…They weren't, thankfully."_

_As everyone started moving, trying to fix the mess, Natalie clang to Lissa, taking her from Christian and Rose eyed Ozera like he had just murdered her cat. A part of her was telling her that she was nuts for thinking that he had anything to do with it, but she knew better than not to trust her gut._

_"_ _Are you insane?" She whispered at him as they were taken inside the manor by some guardians._

_"_ _I have no idea what you are talking about." He just said and Rose punched his arm slightly. "Ouch. Okay. No, I'm not insane, I had it controlled so they wouldn't be inside of the car."_

_Her eyes opened widely in disbelieve upon hearing his confession. Because hitting a guy to protect his friends was one thing, and pissing off the posh girls from school to defend Lissa was another, but blowing a car near people who could have gotten hurt was crossing a line._

_"_ _How did you even do it?" She was still whispering, not wanting anyone to hear them._

_"_ _My aunt was in the army, remember? I know some things."_

_He was_ smiling _. Smiling like it was nothing serious, like it couldn't have cost someone his life. And Rose wanted to believe that he had in truth known what he was doing at all times and that he knew they'd be no casualties, only wanting to give Jessie and Ralf a scare._

_"_ _I promise you, Rose, they are fine." Christian shook his shoulders. "They have no burn marks, right?"_

_Hathaway moved a hand through her hair, shaking her head._

_"_ _You_ are _insane, Pyro, you really are."_

_He just laughed and Rose rolled her eyes at him, containing a smile._


End file.
